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Jack Skellington and Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” greet children in 2024 at the Nightmare on Auburn Road.
Photo provided by Gus Calandrino
UTICA — Community members are gearing up for the Nightmare on Auburn Road fall festival from noon to 8 p.m. Oct. 4 in downtown Utica.
This is the third year for this event and more than 4,000 attendees are expected to take part in the seasonal festivities.
“The city of Utica started this event after having conversations with Connect Macomb about wanting to host an event in the Fall,” Utica Mayor Gus Calandrino said in an email. “What started as a small, food truck event with music, evolved into a full-scale, all day event!”
During the day, traffic to Auburn Road in downtown Utica will be closed and a beer tent, a wide variety of vendors and a live music stage will be available for attendees, as well as multiple family-friendly Halloween activities.
Attendees can also expect:
• Spooky storytime at the Utica Public Library at noon.
• Trick-or-treating among all the vendors and participating businesses until 2 p.m.
• Costume contests for kids and adults.
• A performance of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ by the students from one of the dance studios in Shelby Township.
“Some of the residents in downtown sit outside and hand out candy to the trick or treaters — they say that on Halloween because they live downtown they don’t see many kids and this gave them a great opportunity to give back,” Sabrina VanVyve, director of marketing and events from Connect Macomb, said in an email.
There will also be live performances from Creepy Clyde from 2 to 4 p.m., Lone Skeleton Band from 4 to 6 p.m., The MIXX from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and The 3-D Invisibles from 7 to 8 p.m.
Calandrino said that Creepy Clyde’s music is family-friendly, as he sings everything from originals to theme songs from television shows like “The Addams Family” and “The Munsters.” Lone Skeleton Band is a mix of Americana, folk and scary music, and The MIXX performs top 40 hits from the 1980s to the present. The 3-D Invisibles is a fusion of early punk, Famous Monsters, 1960s AM pop, 1950s sci-fi and EC comics.
For more information, visit cityofutica.org.
